DIGITAL EDITION

More 'Send to FedEx Kinko's' Developments

Adobe to respond by August 1; EFI's PrintMessenger lets print service providers remove the shortcuts

Further happenings in the Adobe 'Send to FedEx Kinko's' button controversy:

* Adobe representatives met with more than two dozen leading print-industry executives at the Print Industry Advisory Forum in mid-July. Key recommendations coming out of the meeting, according to Adobe: Re-evaluate the implementation of the FedEx Kinko’s service in Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader; explore options of making print service providers more discoverable in Adobe’s creative products; and investigate the ability for printers to distribute a branded plug-in to their customers. Adobe has indicated it will communicate its response by August 1.

* Immediately following the forum, John Loiacono, senior vice president of Adobe's Creative Solutions Business Unit, posted on his blog: 'The last several weeks have been weeks filled with a number of painful lessons learned. We met the objective of developing new business opportunities for our technology and addressing a customer's print-workflow problem, but did not engage with print industry thought leaders and influencers early in the deal cycle to determine how to best implement the program. We have a long-standing, very supportive relationship with the print community, so getting their input should have been baked into the process.

'We are going to do everything possible to find a way to deliver a win - win situation on all sides. It's the right thing to do. At the core, we all want to work together, support each other, and ultimately, succeed together.'

* In a July 20 letter to Adobe Systems, Joseph P. Truncale, president and CEO of the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), and Steve Johnson, president and CEO of the National Association of Quick Printers (NAQP), stated that their position regarding the Adobe/FedEx Kinko’s agreement remains as follows: Adobe should extricate itself from the agreement and remove the FedEx Kinko’s logo and embedded link from Adobe software in a timely manner. With regards to the August 1 date put forth by Adobe, Truncale and Johnson state in their letter that, "During that period, we will continue to examine any and all options open to us-legal and otherwise-should Adobe’s solution fall short of our expectations."

NAPL and NAQP sent the letter on behalf of NAPL Network members and of the Graphic Communications Coalition for Open Competition. In addition to NAPL and NAQP, Coalition participants as of July 20 when the letter was mailed (additional firms have joined since) included: Kevin Cushing, CEO, AlphaGraphics, Inc.; Andrew Hrywnak, president, Print Three Franchising Corp.; Michael Jutt, executive vice president and director of training, Minuteman Press International; Richard Lowe, president, Sir Speedy; Carl Gerhardt, president and CEO, Allegra Network; Bob Metzger, vice chairman, International Center for Entrepreneurial Development (ICED); Catherine Monson, president, PIP; and Steve Morris, CEO, Signal Graphics (SAMPA Corp).

* EFI has announced a new version of its PrintMessenger PDF-generating drivers, which lets print service providers choose to remove the shortcuts that route print jobs to other print service providers from the user interface of their Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat applications. PrintMessenger is a standard feature of EFI's Digital StoreFront Web-To-Print platform. The new PrintMessenger creates a 'File-Print' link to their own shop from within Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat as well as any other Apple Macintosh or Windows application.

'Our print service provider clients came to us asking for our help, and we are pleased that we have been able to quickly provide a solution,' says Marc Olin, senior vice president/general manager, EFI APPS division. 'The new software puts print service providers back in control of their own customer relationships and provides the added benefit of being able to submit PDF documents from any Windows or Mac application directly to their print shop.'

In early June, FedEx Kinko's and Adobe announced that Adobe Reader 8.1 and Adobe Acrobat software would feature a connection to FedEx Kinko's Print Online functionality, allowing users to send documents for output to any FedEx Kinko's Office and Print Center in the US. Both products have integrated a 'Send to FedEx Kinko's' command option within the File Menu as well as a button on the main toolbar.